ST. LOUIS -- For the first time since joining the league (2013-14), Loyola Chicago has been tabbed the favorite to win the Missouri Valley Conference men’s basketball title.The Ramblers return three starters from last year’s record-setting 32-win team that swept the MVC regular-season and tournament titles and reached the NCAA Final Four.  Clayton Custer earned the Larry Bird Trophy in his junior year last season and has been selected as the pre-season MVC Player of the Year for 2018-19.

The Ramblers received 29 first-place votes and 410 points to outdistance Illinois State, which earned 374 points and 10 first-place tallies to finish second.  Southern Illinois, which returns all five starters, received four first-place votes and 362 points to finish third in the poll.  The league’s fourth Illinois school - Bradley - is fourth in the poll.  For the first time in Arch Madness history, all four of the league’s Illinois programs reached the semifinals in 2018.